Council debates timekeeping for salaried employees; policy aims to track attendance not pay overtime

City officials reviewed a proposed requirement that salaried employees use timekeeping to record attendance. Staff and councilors said the intent is to document that salaried employees work the expected number of hours (typically a 40-hour week) so the city can demonstrate compliance to auditors; they emphasized that salaried staff are not intended to receive overtime.

Several councilors and staff raised concerns about how timekeeping would be applied in practice, whether it would change expectations for managers and whether some employees (notably office and administrative staff) would see more recorded overtime. Staff said the change is an attendance measure: “it’s simply to keep track for us to be able to say that we don't have ghost employment” and to have records to show auditors. The session clarified that salaried employees would continue to receive salary rather than hourly overtime, and that compensatory time or internal flexible scheduling (e.g., taking time off later) would be the mechanism for addressing extra hours worked.

Discussion vs. decision: no ordinance vote occurred; the session was used to clarify interpretation and application. Councilors requested written job descriptions and hours-of-work expectations be confirmed for affected employees.

Ending: Staff will confirm job descriptions and hours-of-work for salaried positions and return with implementation details clarifying attendance tracking procedures and expectations for compensatory time.